Nick Cornish (from left), Adam Storke and John Lavelle star in the film festival favorite, opening at the Malverne Cinema on Friday.

Marro, who said he’s been inspired in his burgeoning film career by such directors as Billy Wilder, Alfred Hitchcock and Howard Hawk, wants audiences, above all, to be entertained by this movie. “It’s a good story and it keeps you on the edge of your seat,” he said. “Universally everyone who sees it likes this movie. Kids like it, as do adults. It seems to appeal across all ages.” The film explores the question, as Marro explained in his director’s statement, “What would you do, and to what extremes would you go to if offered the opportunity to obtain what you wanted most out of life?” “I enjoy stories about folks that have a relentless desire to achieve a goal ignoring the difficulties of their task,” said Marro. “This story is about the resilience one needs to give up everything you have and go chase a dream, no matter how unlikely it is to come true. The film’s characters, in spite of naïve optimism, pursue their lofty goal and inevitably encounter a far more difficult reality than expected. They are driven to extremes and realize that risking it all in a do-it-yourself society does have a down side, which begs the question; is the thing we want most out of life eventually going to kill us.” Marro’s inspiration for the film came from a newspaper article, working at the writer/director’s unit in the Actors Studio and his personal history. “In many ways my experiences, in making the film, mirror what the characters go through in the film. After a long arduous undertaking there is no better feeling of satisfaction than knowing you accomplished what you set out to do,” Marro said. The cast includes Nick Cornish (Gossip Girl, Confessions of a Shopaholic), Adam Storke (Mystic Pizza, Death Becomes Her, The Stand), John Lavelle (The Taking of Pelham 123, NCIS), Larry Pine (Homeland, The Royal Tenebaums, Melinda and Melinda), and Robert Clohessy (The Avengers, Boardwalk Empire, Across The Universe). “We have a terrific cast that all responded to the screenplay and wanted to play these characters,” Marro said.